Short Shorts!

Yoga Apparel is a fast growing industry. As the popularity of yoga grows, so does the rest of the yoga industry. Yoga clothing, accessories, DVDs, books, you name it and it's probably out there. When I first started practicing I didn't want to invest much money on yoga clothes because I didn't think I'd stick to it. So I wore my gym clothes. My clothes would come out soaked at the end of class. Not too long after I purchased my first monthly package did I go out and buy a few yoga outfits. I got a few tops and several cropped pants. As I eventually ended up at the front of the class, I immediately decided that there was no way I would wear shorts no matter how hot the room. I didn't want the people behind me staring at my stuff. How embarrassing! I didn't understand how the women in my class would wear these tiny shorts that would barely cover their behind. I would worry that as soon as bend over people would see the too much of me!

As soon as I committed to teacher training, my teachers told me I needed to start wearing shorts. In training no pants are allowed! You need to be able to see your legs in the mirror to get the alignment correct. Eventually I gave in a few months back and got two pairs of shorts at the Lululemon Outlet. Boy did I luck out! I found shorts that were a "tall" length. Perfect for me! I'm 5'1 so the tall shorts hit me on my mid-thigh. So for two months I've been rotating my two pairs of shorts along with my cropped pants. I'm still getting used to the idea of my thunder thighs/tree stumps being exposed to the world.

Wearing shorts in class is also a bit of a challenge. There isn't much material to absorb all of the sweat dripping down from my body. So whenever there's a posture where I need to hold on to my legs all of the sudden I'd slip, lose my grip, and or come out of the posture early. It felt like my first class all over again. Now I'm told to get used to wearing shorts for training and that it will make my practice stronger. I suppose there's some truth to that.

At training there are about 11-12 classes each week. Given that there isn't much time to do laundry I have to stock up on shorts. So rather than buying them all at once I thought it would be a good idea to slowly start my collection. Yesterday I picked up a pair of shorts at Lucy. The speedy shorts (see image) at Lucy fit well . It's a good conservative length. They were $10 off if you brought in an old pair of pants! I'll slowly work my way into the short shorts!

Signs of a Great Class

Today I had a strong class. I ate plenty during the day, drank a ton of water and had a good night's rest.  After class I sat on the lobby floor enjoying my knock off vitamin water from Costco (VitaRain). As soon as I got up there was a huge puddle from where I sat down! I know, I know it's gross that I sweat that much in one class but I know it's good for me! 

A few other physical things usually happen whenever I have a great class:

• My vision gets blurry roughly an hour after class. I can't see anything close up for about 15-20 minutes! I wonder why that happens.  
  
• I sleep through the night like a baby when I take an evening class. If I take a class in the morning I need to take a nap.
• When I wake up from my rest I have crust/sleep - whatever you want to call it all around my eyes. There's so much sometimes, that I have to rub it off before opening my eyes!
• More often than not I feel a great sense of energy!

Now I'm sure there are other benefits to this yoga but these are the few things that I tend to notice most often. 

Has Yoga Gone to the Dogs? Doga?

Doga? Yoga for Dogs? Really? As you can tell from my profile picture, I am definitely a dog lover. In fact I have 3 small dogs of my own. They are a part my family. The true meaning of the word yoga - is the connection between the mind and body. The intension isn't to connect to your dog. Although it took me years to finally practice yoga, I don't think I'll give in to this new FAD.  Dogs need to be walked in a park!  How the heck can people concentrate on their postures when they're busy attending to man's best friend?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/fashion/09fitness.html?_r=4

How It All Started

I knew 2009 would be a very memorable and life changing year for me. Three months have already passed. So many events transpired. I'm losing my job at the end of April. For a while I've felt very complacent in my current job. I knew I needed a change. Perhaps getting laid off is a blessing in disguise. I need a new challenge. Now is the best time.

I have this good friend, "Ally" who has been teaching yoga for years now. She used to encourage me to take her classes but I never would. I thought the gym was the only place to get a good workout. Plus I was turned off by the idea of being in a hot sweaty room with a bunch of smelly people. When she decided to move to L.A., I was approached by another girlfriend to try the class with her. "E" and I worked together at Banana Republic. E would tell me about how she lost so much weight and kept it off doing Bikram Yoga. E asked me to take a class with her. She told me to give it a week to decide if it was for me. I was reluctant but interested once she showed me her before and after pictures.

July 2007 I took my first class. My teacher was Meghan. She was easy going and made me feel like I could last the entire 90 minutes. I went several times that week. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the way I felt afterwards. A few weeks later I got a few friends to try it with me along with my Bestie, "Montana". Since then Montana and I have been hooked! Of course there are times when I don't want to go, but more often than not my body craves it.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm losing my job in the corporate world. I've decided that if there was a time to do this, the time is now. When will I ever have the chance to take 9 weeks off from a job to take a training class. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. And so my journey begins....